Women hardly ever consult a doctor or an expert for their medical issues. If by chance, they do go in for a consultation, most of them are found to discontinue the treatment. So, it’s not surprising at all they also often fail to notice symptoms concerning their heart diseases. This can be attributed to changing patterns of lifestyles which is making women more prone to facing high risks of cardiovascular diseases.
A recent survey has shown that change in the lifestyle of women has exposed them to higher chances of heart diseases, thus almost blowing apart the popular belief that oestrogen hormone shields them from such diseases. The fact is say experts that the oestrogen hormone still protects women from cardiovascular diseases and it is this hormone which protects women from having high cholesterol problems. But it is equally true that changing lifestyles are forcing women to carry on unhealthy eating practices.
Metrolife caught up with Dr. JPS Sawhney, senior cardiologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, who deems this neglect a matter of concern. “Be it a working women or non-working women, both categories are extremely prone to high chances of cardiovascular diseases, which come mainly in the form of heart attacks and strokes. Cardiovascular diseases can be considered as the number one disease that is killing women nowadays.”
“There are a lot of women who are not even diabetic but are being detected with heart diseases. If we consider working women, they suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. They just don’t get enough time to look after their own health. In Indian culture, when women return from office, they have to tend to their family needs,” says Dr. Sawhney.
Taking into account that working women have to deal with both personal and professional responsibilities, they are more exposed to lifestyle changes like, “eating out, indulging in junk food, high intake of salt and consuming a lot of saturated fats. When it comes to exercise, women take memberships of gyms but simply do not utilise the facility. There is simply no time for exercise.”
“Call it high levels of stress, but more women have taken to smoking. Alcohol intake has also gone up. So, what these women were to face 10-15 years later, they are facing it now. These changes are leading to the premature deaths of so many women,” he laments.
As far as the non-working women are concerned, they are ignorant about heart diseases, as their education level is poor. Adding to the woes are hormonal imbalances which occur post-menopause, says Dr Rajat Mohan, also a senior cardiologist at Ganga Ram.
“Cardiovascular diseases are indeed one of the major reasons leading to the cause of early deaths in women. They eat food labelled with oil and salt which leads to obesity and later these diseases,” he says.